Industry Average for Service Level is changing from 80% in 20 Seconds

80 20 rule
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Written by Megan Jones

Research has shown that, despite the industry standard of 80% of calls being answered within 20 seconds, a significant number of contact centres are moving above that target.

A recent survey by Call Centre Helper, sponsored by NewVoiceMedia, asked over 600 members of the contact centre industry to share their service level targets for telephone calls. This data was captured in percentage/seconds.

The industry standard is 80% of calls being answered within 20 seconds

The results confirm that the well-known industry standard of 80% of calls being answered within 20 seconds is in wide use. This is evident in the large cluster surrounding this data point in the bubble graph.

The well-known industry standard of 80% of calls being answered within 20 seconds is in wide use.

The well-known industry standard of 80% of calls being answered within 20 seconds is in wide use.

Leading contact centres are targeting against 90% of calls answered in 20 seconds

However, industry leaders are setting the bar even higher and targeting against 90% of calls being answered within 20 seconds – evident in the smaller yet still significant cluster around this data point.

Further visible clusters on the bubble graph indicate that there is also a trend for 70% of calls being answered in 30 seconds and 85% of calls being answered in 20 seconds.

[Please note, the findings only reflect the targets contact centres have in place – and not the actual figures they achieve.]

Download ‘What Contact Centres Are Doing Right Now (2015 Edition)’ to find out more.

Author
Megan Jones

Megan is Editor at Call Centre Helper. She first started working for Call Centre Helper in 2013 and has held a number of roles - News Editor, Features Editor and now Editor.

She has visited a large number of award winning contact centres such as Tesco, Lego, BT and AA. She is well respected in the industry.

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